


Smitten and Sentimental

by Archadian_Skies



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Cherno Alpha feels, F/M, Flower Crowns, Gen, these fics never end well do they, worn for cultural rather than hipster purposes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-17
Updated: 2013-08-17
Packaged: 2017-12-23 11:05:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/925628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archadian_Skies/pseuds/Archadian_Skies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He is Aleksis Kaidanovsky, one half of Cherno Alpha's team, and he is a rockstar. He is Aleksis Kaidanovsky, smitten and sentimental, and he is making a crown of flowers for his other half.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smitten and Sentimental

**Author's Note:**

> This contains events referenced in previous work; 'Bravery'.

It is the night before the celebration of Ivan Kupala, and he is twenty years of age yet feeling all of ten as he hides from his partner. The last he knows, she is sleeping and he would like her to stay as such so he may finish his project. The candles provide just enough light for him to maneuvre, and he methodically winds the Summer florals onto the soft sapling wreath.

He is Aleksis Kaidanovsky, one half of Cherno Alpha's team, and he is a rockstar. He is Aleksis Kaidanovsky, smitten and sentimental, and he is making a crown of flowers for his other half.

Others only judge him by sight, immediately disbelieving he could be gentle and deft, delicate and precise, when he looks brutal and violent. He is all of that and more. He is twenty but not too long ago he was fourteen, weaving flower crowns and braiding his sister's hair and promising if any boy dares to break her heart he'll break him in half.

The crown is finished, and is a wreath of pinks, oranges and reds. He inspects his handiwork, before setting it aside and pondering over the remaining flowers. Not many remained, but after only a few moments of consideration, he set about making a smaller crown. There is to be a special visitor tomorrow, after all.

* * *

 

It is the celebration of Ivan Kupala, nestled in the Summer Solstice, and she is twenty-seven. Today her hair is out of its usual tight braids, instead hanging in soft curls around her face. She wears a white and red cotton dress, heavily and colourfully embroidered, and it swings and swirls around her legs.

He is twenty years of age and he thinks he's finally stopped growing. He's filled out properly, tall and muscular, and his broad frame is dressed in traditional garb to match his partner. She is never anything but beautiful, he thinks, and today is no exception. She's smiling and laughing and greeting their colleagues in the Shatterdome, and there's a brightness to her that seems to fill the room with light.

All around them young female technicians, engineers, scientists and trainees are dressed similarly with wreaths of flowers crowning their hair. Unmarried women wear their hair adorned as such, and it is a technicality not lost on the both of them. They are partners, yes, co-pilots and Drift-bound, but they are unmarried. He had stayed up all night for this, and he is thankful no Kaiju attacks had required them to Drift, else she would have discovered his secret.

When they sit for breakfast, he places a plain brown box within her reach. He only watches her face as she opens the box, and her gasp of surprise quickly turns into a smile that makes his chest tighten.

"I'm probably too old for this." Sasha mourns with a sigh, but she's admiring the beautiful summery flowers he had painstakingly wound by candlelight when she was asleep. He takes it from her hands and crowns her, kissing her doubt away.

* * *

 

Mako is fifteen and no longer little but not yet big. She's grown since the last they saw her, and she holds herself with the blossoming pride of a young woman. Aleksis knows she has outgrown their pretend Jaeger games, but she still looks up at them with adoration. He places the other flower crown atop her dark hair, and shares a smile with Sasha as she lights up with joy.

They kidnap her from the Marshall and spend the day in town, teaching her of their country's traditions.

She is fifteen but five again as she drinks in the sights and sounds of Vladivostok celebrating the solstice. They take her to their favourite eatery to have sweets, and Sasha sneaks a capful of vodka in her iced tea and Mako giggles conspiratorially and makes them both promise they'll never ever tell the Marshall.

The sun is half its size on the horizon; soon the young couples will search for the elusive 'fern flower' and young men brave enough will jump into the water to chase candlelit wreaths for their loved ones. Her phone pipes up a cheery tune, and she excuses herself to answer it.

Mako is fifteen but ten again and terrified and Cherno Alpha needs to be mobilized immediately for an incoming Kaiju attack.

* * *

 

Sasha is twenty-seven and he is twenty as they suit up for their third Kaiju battle. Even without the neural handshake he can feel her anger in waves, and she will not let Russia fall under her watch. Not today, when Russia's young lovers dare to hope for a future together.

He absorbs her rage in the Drift and uses it like fire in his veins, and he can see her when she's fourteen wearing meadow flowers in her golden hair and leaping and pirouetting and promising Natalia they will find handsome, wholesome boys who will search for fern flowers with them.

She can see him when he's fourteen, which was not so long ago, and he is weaving flower crowns and braiding his sister's hair and promising if any boy dares to break her heart he'll break him in half. When his sister turns to look at him, only love is in her eyes and she feels the conviction to protect her in the stronghold of his memory. 

They bring down the Kaiju in record time.

* * *

 

Mako is fifteen when she sees the brutal efficiency of Aleksis and Sasha and Cherno Alpha. Secured in its chest, she realizes the pilots are the Jaeger's heart and soul and to enter the Conn-pod is to gamble victory against death.

She is there when Sasha pulls the flower wreath from the basket containing her civilian clothes and crowns Aleksis, and she had read it meant they were now promised to each other.

She feels too young to understand love, but she knows love is what powers Cherno Alpha.

* * *

 

Aleksis is twenty-six, one half of Cherno Alpha's team, and he is suiting up beside his wife. A double event threatens Hong Kong, and the Marshall needs him and Sasha and Cherno Alpha.

He pauses, helmet in hand, and turns to her. She clasps his arm to steady herself, perking up on her toes and pressing a red kiss to his temple.

"Today is a good day to fight for our future." There is fire in her eyes and wickedness in her grin, and he kisses her to show his agreement. Once more into Cherno Alpha's heart, to fight for a little more time, a little less fear, and perhaps another Summer Solstice of floral wreaths and Mako's joyful smiles.

* * *

 

Mako is twenty-two, and Vladivostok is adorned with flowers and festivities. All around her, young women wear their hair loose and crowned with florals. She tightens her grip on Raleigh's hand, and he squeezes it in return. No one questions them when they duck under the heavy chains squaring off the monument.

Raleigh crouches, and she carefully sits on his shoulders, bracing herself as he stands. Mako is twenty-two but she is eleven again and her Jaeger is seven ft. tall and cannot talk but growls. Her chest is heavy and hollow all at once, and her eyes are hot and her cheeks are wet, and she places flower crowns on the heads of the statues.

From her trousers she takes the lipstick she had pocketed when their room had been cleared, and paints Sasha's lips red.

Mako is twenty-two, one half of Gipsy Danger's team, and not too young to understand there is a certain strength to be found in sentimentality.

 


End file.
